Fall hiking at its best! Most every October or November I have to find myself up on Mt. Adams. She calls to me like no other mountain! She is such a beauty anytime of the year, but she really shines in the Fall! I can’t describe it, but there is magic on this mountain. I call my secret places there Narnia.
In the Fall of 2021, I was in a huge snowstorm in this exact spot. This year however, found me skinny dipping in my favorite sunny lake on the southeast side just down from my beloved waterfall up there! What a difference one year makes. But I was surely not disappointed by the colors on this day. There were reds, yellows and oranges everywhere. Just the smell in the air was intoxicating on this day. We did our favorite loop visiting all our favorite places.
As you can see from the photos Josie was wearing the bright orange scarves I tie on them as needed during hunting season. Luckily, I did have that on her and Nova in a red dress that day, as we came face to face with a hunter. He was the only person we saw all day and at first we didn’t see him as he was unmoving. It is almost always movement that draws our attention and even the animals know this and try to stand still. I think this is why Josie’s instincts are to often freeze and survey the world around her.
Anyway, this very athletically robust and visually pleasing hunter with rifle wanted me to tell him what animals I had seen on our long trek around the mountain. He was shocked and frustrated when his charms, that probably work on any woman he meets (I mean let’s be real, the man had thighs for arms), could not get me to answer his questions and he wanted to know why. When I explained to him that my life was dedicated to saving animals and not conspiring to help in their senseless murder, he was not a very happy man. I found him even less happy when I informed him that we often night hike in the woods without talking or turning on flashlights and I would appreciate if he didn’t just shoot at anything that moves in the forests as so many hunters are prone to do. He was very put out and offended that I would lump him in that group of hunters. But I have found myself in the sights of guns too many times to not say something to hunters when I have the chance. By the time we parted, I was lucky the man didn’t just shoot me for annoying him, I can tell you that! But it gave the girls and I a good laugh for the rest of the day. No, I did not take photos of the hunter....maybe next time. But I did take photos from a few miles later when the girls and I went swimming in one of my favorite hidden lakes.
Josie the trail beast will fully emerge with me. Nova the trail beauty only wets her feet of course. She doesn't like to get her dress wet!
A few weeks later I came very close to being shot on the trail and could only think back to Mr. Hotty Hunter on Mt. Adams and I wanted to give him a big I told you so! It was the day before Thanksgiving and I was just trying to knock out 14 miles on a section of the PCT I had not yet done. The Fall colors were really still out on this section of trail despite being late in the season, so everything was orange and yellow still. Several miles into the hike, Josie dead stopped and signaled to me that there was danger. We generally never speak on the trail and just use signals to one another. Trusting her instincts Nova and I both stopped and carefully looked through the woods in the direction Josie was pointing. Finally, I saw it…. probably 200 yards ahead of us in a blind. There were 2 hunters wearing orange camo. The only thing that caught my attention was once again movement. My heart went into my throat when I realized the movement was them silently dropping to their knees aiming at us. My first instinct was to drop to the ground behind a stump. At the same time, I looked down at my chest. I was so sure that they were taking the shot and wondered if I would feel the bullet go through me first or hear the shot. I kept listening for that boom to sound!! As I looked down at myself, I realized I was dressed in head to toe black. I looked at Nova and she was in a yellow coat, matching into the surroundings. I looked at Josie and she was only in her wolf coat with no orange bandana. Crap I thought. We are screwed. I also realized that I had been watching and reading too many military programs as my instinct was not just to hide in preparation for a gun fight, but I really wanted to put my arm up in a fist to signal to the dogs to drop to the ground too.
After what felt like a very long time in hiding, I decided to act like a normal person and just shouted out loudly to these guys. “We are not deer, please don’t shoot us”. As I yelled this out, I peaked to look and saw them instantly stand upright. They did not make a sound back to me, which I found rather disconcerting. That final walk towards them felt very long indeed. But as I got right up next to them, I realized that I had never seen two more pale grown men in the woods in my life. Their mouths were both wide open, but they didn’t, or couldn’t speak to me. It was then that I knew that they knew, they had almost shot a woman and her dogs. I decided to keep my mouth closed and just let that knowledge really sink into them as I shook my head at them and walked away. All I could think was that I thought hunting season was over and if they had shot us and then realized what we were, they probably would have run off and left us for dead since they were probably poaching. The rest of that hike I was surely thankful for that wolf by my side and her incredible instincts. Nova and I would have never sensed or seen that coming until it was too late!
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